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If You Believe in the Sovereignty of God, You Must Vote

This will be my final, small contribution to this overly-long political
campaign that thankfully comes to an end tomorrow. I have one and only
one word of advice to my Christian friends.

If you believe in the sovereignty of God, you must vote.

Of all the things that have bothered me during these past few weeks,
and believe me, there has been plenty to keep me stirred up, perhaps
the biggest one is this. Time and again I have heard Christians say, “God is sovereign” as an excuse not to vote and not to get involved.
Lately I have heard it almost as a voice of defeatism. “God’s raises up
leaders. The election is in his hands. He’ll have the only vote that
counts.”

Yes and no.

God is
sovereign, but that doesn’t mean our vote doesn’t count. Remember that
God ordains both the means and the ends. He told Joshua, “I have given
you Jericho,” (Joshua 6:2), but the people still had to march around
the city. If they didn’t march, the walls wouldn’t fall.

Christians make a terrible mistake if they use God’s sovereignty as an
excuse not to get involved and not to vote. That’s like saying, “God is
sovereign so I’m not going to pray” or “God is sovereign so I’m not
going to witness."

I can imagine a Christian deciding on principle not to vote because he
chooses not to participate in any elections. I don’t share that view,
but I understand it. But I’m not thinking of that situation.

Maybe you are sick or otherwise detained or unable to vote for some reason. Again, I’m not speaking to those situations. I’m talking to Christians who are hiding behind God’s sovereignty as an excuse not to vote.That’s a terrible misuse of a precious biblical doctrine.

I’m heading to the polling place early tomorrow morning to exercise my
right as an American citizen. And I’m doing it because I believe in
God’s sovereignty, knowing that my vote matters on earth and it also
matters in heaven.